Sam Williamson leads swimmers into action in Santiago
Bermuda’s swimmers will be the first of the island’s Pan American Games athletes to get a piece of the action in Santiago this weekend.
Sam Williamson will be the first of the four-strong team to hopefully make a splash, but not many waves, when he competes in the 100 metres breaststroke on Saturday morning, with his heat expected to start at around 9.30am.
The teenager, who is Bermuda’s only representative on the opening day of swimming competition, is in the first heat and takes on Nector Segovia of El Salvador; Mark-Anthony Thompson of Bahamas; and Nicholas Sylvester of St Vincent & the Grenadines.
Siblings Emma and Jack Harvey both take to the water on Sunday with Jack competing in the 200 metres backstroke and his sister Emma in the 100 metres butterfly.
Harvey, who carried Bermuda’s flag at the opening ceremony on Friday night, is hoping that her different approach to the season can pay off with some fast times.
“I took about three weeks off in August and since then because I’m essentially not competing for the college team, I can focus on this meet, the World Championships and the Olympic Games,” she said.
“It’s made my season look a little bit different this year as I haven’t competed in individual competitions this season per se, but I’ve been doing a lot of race efforts in practice and a lot of mini mock meets, which have prepared me well for this competition.
“Of course it’s a little different coming in having not done an official race for the past few months but I feel really well prepared and I’m super excited to get started.”
Harvey picked up two medals at the Central American and Caribbean Games this year and feels that competition has left her knowing what to expect at this higher level.
“CAC Games gave me a lot of confidence not just from a performance aspect but being able to come out and represent your country at a festival-type Games is just a different level of pressure,” she said.
“I’ve learnt a lot from that experience and I’ve brought it here to Chile. I think there are a lot of similarities between here and the CAC Games apart from this is a much bigger games and the field is really strong here. But I’m really excited and hopefully I can match my performances from there. I can’t wait to get started.”
The last member of the squad, Madelyn Moore must wait until Monday for her event, the 100 metres freestyle